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Who: Ashiko and Itachi
Where: An inconspicuous little village in the Land of Rice
When: April 15
Notes: A friendly encounter. Sort of. Mostly, he's just happy she's alive.

'Perhaps you should take it easy, Ashiko-sama,' a few of the lower-ranked servants had suggested, meek and worried. 'It was such a stressful situation. You deserve a rest.'

Honestly. It was as though they didn't know her at all.

Ashiko could never be happy cooling her heels, even if the alternative was being away from her master's side. Since the caravan debacle he had elected to keep a low profile, which meant that Ashiko's little errands resumed, with more frequency than ever before. Otogakure had no shortage of skilled medical ninja, not the least of which was her esteemed Danna-sama, so it wasn't as though she was even on the mend; she had been patched up as good as new by the day after their return, and had only her own bruised pride to pain her.

She didn't care that Orochimaru had stabbed a person through her, really; she was upset that she had hindered her master to the point that he had even had to do such a thing in the first place. It was a similar sentiment that had kept her from using her scroll to make contact with any Konoha shinobi. How exactly did one broach such a strained social situation? 'My master and I are in good health, I hope that none of you were fatally poisoned after we defended ourselves from your highly unwarranted attack,' seemed ill-put.

But even Ashiko could nurse a grudge, if one on behalf of her master.

The woman sighed softly and ducked into the inn and tavern that would be her lodgings for the night, sliding into the last available booth and leaning back against the old, lacquered wood tiredly. She was in the pink of health, but the weather and the long hours she had chosen to undertake had worn her out for the day.

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"I'm sorry. I'm only a low class monk," Itachi apologized. "And as you can tell I don't drink much anyway. No one has ever lectured me on the proper etiquette." A lie. He could even preform a tea ceremony if he needed to. He'd worked undercover as a courtesan when he was younger. He hadn't been a very good one.

"And may they last for many years," Itachi added.

"Well, you need to keep it in mind for if you ever have to entertain somebody slightly more important than a mere servant girl." There was a touch of worry to her tone, even as she gently touched their glasses togetger and took another sip. "Some people can get quite bent out of shape over the smallest breaches of protocol, and alcohol has a way of...exacerbating matters."

"I will do my best to brush up on my etiquette in all situations I might find myself in where my companions will not be so gracious and forgiving of my faults as my present dinner companion." Itachi nodded seriously as he took a sip of the sake. Really, it wasn't so bad after your tongue started to feel a little numb.

Ashiko nodded, oblivious to the faint flush beginning to rise in her cheeks. She was far from drunk, but the initial warmth had definitely spread. "...sorry if I come off as nagging. But I suppose it's my nature to try and pile on advice when I don't think I'll see someone again anytime soon. I have, upon occasion, been called a worrywart."

"There are so few people actually care about my welfare, I don't mind someone nagging me. It's nice to know someone cares enough to nag," Itachi nodded again, feeling this was a good drunken habit for Iori to develop.

"Does your Danna-sama make you worry a lot? That would be very unkind of him. He already send you on all of these errands that take you just about everywhere." Maybe she'd drop a tidbit about her master?

"Oh, I'm certain Danna-sama never intends to make me worry; like you said, sometimes he is simply engrossed in his work to the point where everything else pales in comparison. He is a great man, which means he is a busy man, and if he is too busy to worry for himself than I am naturally honored to take up the task in his place."

The other half of his question saw her take a larger sip of sake, and visibly settle the hackles that rose at the aspersions he had cast upon her beloved master. "...Danna-sama has much to do, and I try to alleviate that burden as much as I can, however I can. I'd rather be by his side, yes, but a Kuzuryu lives to serve, and it is at Danna-sama's discretion to decide how I do so."

You are a ninja, even if you don't realize it. Thankfully he wasn't drunk enough to let that slip out. Instead he shook his head. "Ashiko-san, you're describing a soldier. Most maids stay at home and do...well, they do maid things, but I can see that would never satisfy you. A loyal soldier in the field is invaluable to any man, I supposed..." Itachi considered taking another drink and decided his joints felt loose enough as it was. He might slide under the table if he drank much more.

"You know, after all these years you've never told me who your Danna-sama is," Itachi added. He didn't have to worry about being too nosy now, did he? He'd be gone in a few hours, probably right after they finished eating.

"I'm a Kuzuryu," she repeated again, this time with subtle but insistent weight to the word. "And the first one to serve anything other than a Daimyou. We're bred and raised to do anything our master wishes to do." She frowned a little, dropping her gaze. "I. I was bred and raised like that. And my children will be, too, and their children...if I can find a man who can accept that. Or maybe Danna-sama will help me select a donor. I haven't decided yet."

While the alcohol was obviously beginning to loosen her normal restraint, she had sidestepped that particular inquiry so many times over the years that the response was practically a reflex. "Danna-sama is a private man, so I can't give his name out as frivolously as my own. Sorry, Iori-kun, but not telling you was part of my travelling habits. Danna-sama is an important man, but if nobody knows who or how important, then ransom situations can never arise."

"A sense of loyalty and devotion like yours is a hard think to find, but I hope you do find someone who shares your passions, Ashiko-san. Not everyone was born for a celibate existence." Because Iori was a monk and would probably never marry. He took another drink.

So, whoever this man was, he could raise a ransom. Would he pay it? "I'm sorry, I didn't think it would be dangerous to tell people who you worked for." Itachi feigned a little shock that it could be so.

"It would be nice, if that happened," Ashiko agreed, draining her cup delicately. "There are plenty of wonderful people in Danna-sama's service, but I don't know how likely some whirlwind romance is for me." She paused, then giggled. "Well, unless I get swept off my feet by some dashing ninja intent on swearing himself to my master, but that's something more at home in a book than the real world." He had mentioned something about a Fairytale ending for her, hadn't he?

Truth be told, the only payment that could ever come of Ashiko being kidnapped would be one of blood, drawn out over an excruciating period of testing and research if the offenders were unlucky. "Oh, no more than it usually is for a young, well-dressed woman travelling by her lonesome, really." She topped off what was left in his cup as a tacit request for a refill of her own.

"I'm afraid the only thing I know about romance is what I've read in books and heard in stories. It's not really encouraged in the monastery. It's distracting." Itachi's life had always been about his duties as heir and improving his skill as a ninja. Romance had never played a big part in his life. He'd always been too busy to make friends, much less have a romance.

A ninja sworn to her master's service? True, ninja could work for anyone, technically, but that she'd picked ninja instead of samurai or something else added weight against her. It was very likely she would know something about the hidden village in this country, wasn't it? "I should make it my goal to find a suitable devoted and burly husband to follow you everywhere. Then I wouldn't have to wonder if you were staying safe."

"Me too," Ashiko nodded. "I mean...well, I've had offers—proper ones—but never the time or interest to really pursue things like that." Not every man was the type of trash that had to be physically taken care of, naturally, and there had been a select number of sweet and respectful men that had tried their luck with her. Her largely nomadic habits and focused priorities had dashed their hopes solidly.

Between the sake, the fact that she was fairly certain she was speaking with a ninja, and the fact that at home she couldn't go five feet without bumping into a ninja, the thought of a samurai had never entered her mind. Especially since famously 'honor-bound' young men, no matter how noble, were a match set up for failure given her master's flexible morality. "Burly?" She wrinkled her nose in amusement. "I'm not sure that's quite my type, but thank you for the thoughtfulness; it's sweet. I can take care of myself, though."

"Mah, you're so little though...what if they gang up on you?" Itachi asked, leaning forward a little over the table. His saucer was empty. How much had he had to drink? There had been a lesson about seeming to drink more than you were, but Itachi couldn't remember. He hadn't paid much attention, maybe.

"Then they find out that 'smaller' also means 'more nimble'." The cups were filled again, and Ashiko noted with some faint surprised that they had less than half a bottle left. She inwardly shrugged and took another long sip, rubbing her thumb against the edge of the porcelain. "It's happened before, and I've handled it."

And left the bodies in the ditches they belonged in.

Edited 2014-04-21 00:58 (UTC)

"What if they throw you in a river?" Itachi suggested. He was good at thinking up all the horrible things that could go wrong. Very good at it.

The sake wasn't that bad, actually. Evidently it just took some getting used to.

"What would I be doing near a river?" Ashiko wrinkled her brow in confusion and bit into a daifuku, frowning pensively as she chewed. "Well...I suppose if that happened for some reason, I'd just have to scream for help. I can be loud when the occasion calls for it, surprising as it may sound."

"It's very hard to scream for help when you're drowning," Itachi pointed out. "Don't you ever go near large bodies of water? A lot of roads follow rivers and streams, and sometimes travel by boat is faster than by foot." Itachi motioned lazily with his hands to illustrate his points.

"Of course not. Not usually, at least. I can't swim, after all, so it's best not to take chances." She took another sip and pouted. "It may be faster, but better safe than sorry." She only crossed bridges that were very large and sturdy or stretched over shallow water, or waded through simple streams.

"Swimming is easy. Well, probably not in a full kimono..." Itachi should try that somehow just to see how it would go. "I mean, the layers would be heavy and restrictive, so even if you could swim well, you might not be able too, and taking all that off while in the water would be difficult..." Itachi considered the problem deeply. Was he drunk?

If he was, he'd just seriously screwed up.

"Maybe if I loosened the obi..." Ashiko trailed off, sake-soaked mind churning through the logistics of that maneuver. "Well, I wouldn't really want to do that if the men who tossed me in were still around, but I can get out of my clothes just fine. But I still can't swim." And according to him, screaming for help wasn't as easy as she thought it would be.

And she wouldn't want to be half-naked while screaming for help, either.

"There's no help for it, Ashiko-san. You have to learn how to swim. You'll be twice as useful to your master if you do, and you'll be much safer." Itachi nudged his saucer and decided he shouldn't drink anymore. He wasn't drunk, right? Just a little tipsy. He should be able to think and plan and kill people is necessary.

"I can't say you're wrong, Iori-kun," she admitted after finishing her daifuku and taking up her cup once more. "I will learn at the earliest opportunity." She nursed her drink for a moment, then glanced at him and tilted her head towards what was left in the bottle. "Done for the night?" She scooted it more towards her side of the table.

"I would like to be able to walk to my room," Itachi admitted. "I really do not drink much. I've probably had too much already." He thought he would feel more sick if he had had too much, but he just felt a little warm and fuzzy, like he was wrapped in a giant, fuzzy blanket. It wasn't really a bad feeling. He also really wanted to curl up and sleep somewhere warm.

"No shame in that," Ashiko assured him, even as she refilled her own cup once again. "It's good to know one's limits." Her brow wrinkled thoughtfully and she took a long sip. "But I think we've already had that conversation before, somewhere down the line." Something to do with capacity, or something similar if her mind wasn't playing tricks on her.

"We have had many good conversations," Itachi said. If he said things that didn't mean anything, he could get through being fuzzy headed without doing something utterly stupid, right? Itachi cleared his throat. "I have found one of my limits tonight, it seems." He was hesitating to kill this girl he liked. No more than liked and felt a passing fondness for. Did it take that much to undermine his loyalty to his village?

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